Astrid ran back through the forest at Dragon's Edge, axe clutched in her sweaty hand, shouting at the top of her lungs. "Hiccup!" she shouted, cupping one hand around her mouth. "Hiccup!" There was no response, and she began to panic.

There had been an attack; Dagur's men had come out of nowhere, grabbed her when she was heading to the arena to train with Stormfly, and taken her deep into the forest, where they suspended her upside-down in a tree and left her, saying they would lure Hiccup into their clutches using her as bait.

And Astrid, of course, knew that Hiccup wouldn't hesitate to come to her aid when he realized she had been taken. Which is why, at this moment, she was so frantic, why she was running so fast, having freed herself from the trap with the axe the Berserkers had forgot to take from her (really, Dagur needed to up his game when it came to his henchmen).

If Dagur got Hiccup…

"Hiccup!" Astrid shouted, weaving herself between the trees of the thick forest. She considered heading back to Dragon's Edge and finding Stormfly, but by then it would be too late. By then, Hiccup would have found Dagur and his men, would have demanded they hand over Astrid, would probably have been captured himself in his attempt to rescue her…

Astrid finally stopped running, and she bent over double, one hand on her knee as she fought to regain her breath. It was pointless. She should have gone back and got one of the dragons to come look for Hiccup. She should have gone and gotten the help of the other riders...she really should have…

Then, suddenly, she heard something that sounded like metal against metal, and by the sound of it, it didn't come from very far away. Lifting her head, Astrid turned and ran with new vigor.

There was a fight happening nearby.

"Hiccup!" she shouted as she ran. "Hiccup!"

He was somewhere in the forest. She knew he was. She just had to find him, tell him she was alright and that he didn't have to give himself up to Dagur, and they would go back to Dragon's Edge, unharmed, together, and everything would be alright…

She turned a corner…

...and stopped, just as she ran into a clearing.

Standing in the middle of the clearing was Hiccup, but something was obviously wrong. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes were full of unmasked fury, coupled with...tears? Astrid had only seen Hiccup cry once or twice in the past, and both times he had tried to hide it, but this time, he wasn't hiding anything. In his hands he gripped a sword so tightly that his knuckles were white.

Lying around him were dozens of Berserkers. Unmoving Berserkers.

Astrid thought they were dead, but then, she could see the nearest one's chest rising and falling. They weren't dead; only unconscious.

Dozens of soldiers unconscious, and Hiccup standing in the middle of them, clutching a sword.

Something about this wasn't adding up.

But at the moment, she didn't care, because as far as she could tell, Hiccup wasn't harmed.

"Hiccup!" she called, releasing her axe, letting it drop to the ground, completely forgotten. At the call of his name, Hiccup stiffened, and slowly, almost cautiously, he lifted his head to look at her.

He blinked. A tear rolled down his face. "Ast...Astrid?" he said, as if he couldn't believe it, and Astrid paused. She wanted to run to him, to embrace him and not let go for a long time, but he was staring at her as though...as though he were looking at a ghost. As though, like the unconscious soldiers, something didn't add up.

"Hiccup, what happened?" she said, taking her chances and stepping towards him. "Who took out the soldiers?"

Hiccup looked around at the unconscious Berserkers, sword still clutched in his grip. Then, he looked up at Astrid, still breathing heavily, still looking at her as though he'd seen a ghost. "I...I thought they killed you," he said shakily. He raised one of his hands, wiping sweat and stray tears off his face. "I...I lost my temper."

"You lost your…" Astrid stopped suddenly, looking from Hiccup to the unconscious Berserkers. "You mean...you did this?"she said, because she needed clarification; because she honestly couldn't imagine Hiccup, hilarious, sarcastic Hiccup, getting violent for any reason at all. It was like hearing sour notes in a familiar tune; it didn't sound right, putting Hiccup and violent so close together like that.

Hiccup swallowed hard, but nodded. "They said they killed you," he said. "I...I couldn't…" Now he looked shocked, as if he, like Astrid, couldn't believe he had taken down dozens of Dagur's soldiers single handedly. "I didn't...know what to do…"

He sounded so unsure of himself, and he still stared at Astrid, silently questioning whether or not she was real, whether or not he was hallucinating…

Astrid stepped forward instantly, pulled the sword from his hand (he was still holding it like a lifeline), and embraced him tightly, relieved that he was alright, especially after what he just went up against. After a few moments of hesitation, Hiccup hugged her back with equal ferocity.

"They lied," Astrid said, refusing to relinquish her hold on him. "I don't know what they thought they would accomplish by lying, but they did lie, alright? And by the looks of it, they got more than they bargained for…"

Hiccup nodded stiffly against her shoulder, and before either of them were ready to let go, Astrid pulled back and braced her hands against Hiccup's shoulders, staring into his tired eyes.

"Come on," she said, taking up his hand in her own. "Let's go home."

Author's Notes:

So I found a writing prompt a few days ago, and the prompt was, "I thought they killed you. I lost my temper." And I was bored today, so I thought why not write something short and simple and straight to the point to go along with that prompt…

I'm really happy with this. I wrote it in about half an hour, but I'm still really happy about this. It's short and to the point, and I like it a lot. :D Let me know if you guys liked it likewise! And of course, it's a one-shot, so it won't be continued now or in the future...yeah. Won't be continued, sorry guys! XD I'll see you all next story! :D

Cheers!

-BeyondTheClouds777